Midlothian Council receives a rise in funding

Midlothian North MSP Colin Beattie (SNP) and Midlothian Council leader, Councillor Derek Milligan (Lab).

A rise in council funding from the Scottish Parliament has been warmly welcomed by Midlothian North MSP Colin Beattie, and more cautiously welcomed by council leader Derek Milligan.

Scotland’s Finance Secretary Kate Forbes announced that the SNP Government will hand Midlothian Council an additional £4.8 million on last year’s spending – an increase of 2.7 per cent. Cllr Milligan has challenged this figure and believes the additional funding equates to a 0.9 per cent increase on core funding for the year ahead.

Welcoming the funding announcement, Mr Beattie (SNP) said: “Local council workers have been working around the clock during this pandemic to keep Midlothian moving and ensure essential services continue to operate. So it’s great news that Midlothian Council is set to receive a funding boost of £4.8m for the coming financial year.

“In these tough times, I know that local residents will also be delighted that the SNP Government has taken the significant step of supporting local authorities to introduce a freeze on Council Tax bills.

“I’ll be backing these draft budget proposals to secure this cash for Midlothian.”

Councillor Derek Milligan (Lab) said: “While this is a welcome departure from the core funding cuts of previous years it does nothing to reverse these. Indeed, when measured against an increase in costs in line with Government’s own public sector pay policy, this small uplift actually represents a real terms reduction in our spending power for next year.

“However, thanks to the positive work of our cross party Business Transformation Steering Group (BTSG), we have a Medium Term Financial Strategy in place and a solution for 2021/22 and 2022/23. The strategy and solution, which have cross party approval, allow us to secure a balanced budget for the year ahead without the need for any cuts in the services our communities rely on.”

Cllr Milligan also was keen to draw attention to a specific funding challenge relating to additional funded childcare, highlighted by Audit Scotland in March 2020 in their national report, which stated: “Due to a decision to base funding allocations on 2014 population figures the funding that Midlothian Council will receive is 24 per cent less than required due to the rapid growth in early years population.”